Local News
SATURDAY'S WEIRD NEWS October 24, 2009
• No one on ballot for mayor, council in NC town
SPENCER MOUNTAIN, N.C. (AP) — Who’s on the ballot in a tiny North Carolina mill village? This year, no one.
The Charlotte Observer reports that no one has filed to run for mayor or any of the three town council seats in Spencer Mountain in Gaston County.
The incumbents say the filing deadline just sneaked up on them, but they have a solution: They’ll just show up at the polls and write in each other’s names.
Gaston County Elections Director Frances Pinion says it’s not unusual for no candidates to file in small communities like this one.
Write-ins usually solve the problem, but Pinion says Spencer Mountain’s charter keeps incumbents in office until new officials are elected, so the seats won’t be empty.
There are 29 registered voters in Spencer Mountain.
• Lost keys lead NJ police to burglary suspects
PATERSON, N.J. (AP) — Police in northern New Jersey nabbed three alleged burglars who fled an apartment with just $2 in change and left behind the keys to their getaway car.
Authorities say the gun-toting men entered an apartment in Paterson early Friday, expecting to find loads of money.
Realizing they targeted the wrong residence after they woke up a man who then fought with them, the men fled with just a 3-foot, beer bottle-shaped piggy bank containing the coins.
Police soon arrived. After finding the keys in a bedroom, they used the car alarm to locate a deserted vehicle in a nearby parking lot. Its registration led them to the alleged robbers, who were sitting in a taxi outside one suspect’s home.
The three men face robbery, burglary and weapons charges.
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Local woman dies in Friday fire
A woman who was badly burned when she was discovered in her unit at Elmwood Apartments by police and firefighters late Friday night died not long before midnight, authorities said.
Vickie Strasser, 52, was taken by ambulance at about 10:40 p.m. to Athens-Limestone Hospital with second- and third-degree burns over 95 percent of her body. MedFlight was called to rush her to Huntsville Hospital at about 11:30 p.m., but she died before the helicopter arrived. -
Athens Police make 14 arrests in Friday night drug roundup
Friday night was a busy one for Athens Police officers. While several investigators were conducting a roundup that resulted in 14 arrests, other officers responded to a fire call at Elmwood apartments (see story on today’s front page).
Lt. Trevor Harris said officers conducted search warrants at two homes — one at 1210 Plato Jones St. and another at 903 Brownsferry St.
Madison Police Department provided two additional officers and dogs from the K-9 unit to assist. -
Family displaced by fire seeking residence to rent
One family displaced by last Sunday’s fire at Athens Village Apartments is desperately looking for a home or apartment to rent in the area.
Scott Robertson and his wife, Amanda, and four children, daughter Jordan, 16; son Matthew, 14; son Dallas, 9; and daughter Lily, 5, lost everything they owned on Aug. 29 when an early morning fire — sparked by a cigarette thrown on a patio chair outside another apartment — destroyed all eight units in Building D of the apartment complex at 1711 W. Elm St. in Athens. -
TVA ranks in Top 10 for economic development
For the fifth year in a row, the Tennessee Valley Authority has been named by Site Selection magazine as one of the top 10 North American utilities for economic development achievement. -
Bank robbers remain at large in city, county
Athens Police are still searching for a white man who robbed TVA Credit Union on East Hobbs Street in Athens on July 9.
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Woman burned in fire at Elmwood Apartments
A woman who was burned over 95 percent of her body after a fire in her unit at Elmwood Apartments was taken to Athens-Limestone Hospital by ambulance at around 10:45 p.m.
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Trinity reunion parade will be at 10 a.m. Saturday
The Trinity High School Grand Reunion parade will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in Athens.
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Keeping the bees
Limestone County Beekeepers Association received a grant from the Alabama Mountains, Rivers and Valleys district of the RC&D Council.
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Trinity High School had many distinguished graduates
Local resident Lt. Col. James L. Walker gathered biographies of some of these graduates as the school celebrates its annual Grand Reunion today and Saturday in Athens.
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Part of Clinton Street in Athens to be closed at least 2 more weeks
Clinton Street in Athens, between Lee and Forrest streets, will be closed for at least two more weeks while Athens Utilities replaces sewer lines that are up to 75 years old, an official said.
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